2026 Rankings
Best Cards for Business
Separate your business spending and earn more doing it.
Business cards keep company purchases off your personal cards and often earn more in the categories businesses actually spend on — internet and phone bills, gas, dining, and travel. All four cards below are dedicated small-business products.
Top picks
No. 1 pick
Chase Ink Business Unlimited
Chase
$0
Flat 1.5x Chase Ultimate Rewards points on every purchase with no annual fee and nothing to activate — the simplest card in the Ink lineup.
Chase Ink Business Cash
Chase
$0
5% cash back on internet, cable, and phone bills plus streaming subscriptions (shared $25,000/year cap), 2% at gas stations and restaurants (each up to $25,000/year), 1% elsewhere. No annual fee.
Chase Ink Business Preferred
Chase
$95/year
3x points on travel, internet/cable/phone, and streaming purchases — each capped at $150,000/year (effectively uncapped for most businesses), 1x elsewhere. Points transfer to the same airline and hotel partners as the Chase Sapphire cards.
Amex Business Gold
American Express
$375/year
4x Membership Rewards points on your top 2 categories each month among gas, dining, transit, and internet/phone (up to $150,000/year combined), 1x elsewhere. Also up to $240/year in credits at FedEx, Grubhub, and select office-supply stores.
Tips
Business cards usually just require an EIN or your SSN as a sole proprietor — a side hustle or freelance income is enough to qualify in most cases.
Chase’s two Ink cash-back cards share Ultimate Rewards points with any personal Chase Sapphire card you hold, unlocking transfer partners you wouldn’t get from the business card alone.
Amex Business Gold’s 4x categories are chosen automatically each month based on where you spent most — you don’t have to pick them yourself.
Keep business and personal spending on separate cards even when the rewards rate is similar — it makes bookkeeping and tax time dramatically simpler.
Find Your Complete Optimal Setup
These are great cards for business, but the best combination depends on your total spending across all categories. The optimizer evaluates every possible combination to find the mathematically proven best setup.
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Not financial advice. OptimalCardSetup provides mathematical optimization tools for educational and informational purposes only. This does not constitute financial, investment, or credit advice. Card rates, fees, and benefits shown are accurate as of Jul 11, 2026. Terms may change — always verify current details with the card issuer before applying.